A Unique Sort of Ubiquity
by oneextrafootstep
Summary: There is a legend in Ikebukuro, that there a some whose identities have been erased by unknown creatures of the dark. Their only warning is the missing tick of a clock... Takashi moves to the city from the countryside and is caught up in the action and mystery.
1. Chapter 1

**A Unique Sort of Ubiquity**

** Chapter 1**

Ikebukuro has never stood still. People come and go every day. Some have found in this city a flourishing danger, others have discovered a sort of infinite-faced die, secretly operating, always rolling a different number for each and every one of us.

And yet, this city, a concrete jungle whose neon lights flicker out into the distance and rapid urbanization sweeps the buildings and people up in its tides, has not lost its identity. The color gangs, established in 1985, were originally a means of domination. It is easy to forget a name, a face, but who will forget the stark, fervent red that resounded within the minds of those ignorant enough to arouse the anger of the Red Scarves?

It is always a wonder to know that in the heart of this city, there will always be a deep, dark mystery, occasionally swallowing us up in the folds of its obscurities…

The night that falls on Ikebukuro brims over like a frosted glass, enchanting and scintillating, yet beauty has another layer, because every night is awaiting the arrival of something…or maybe someone…

Tonight, the 10 year old Takashi will find her own place in a rural, much less urbanized part of her life. _Somewhere _she thinks _somewhere in this town I will find a deserted field, an old shack, someplace where I will return every day, because I can find something new..._

On the other side of the large world, in a small city, across the glimmering ocean on which a merrily lit ferry is illuminating the waters, a young boy is searching for secrets. One eye squinting against a crack in an age- worn, mold- bitten wall, he thinks to himself _will I find anything here? Perhaps a passageway…or maybe this is a letterbox that is out of use…but I do not see any letters. Was this person lonely? _

And so is it predestined that these two should meet at the same place where the girl has found her place and the boy has found a secret?


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

In the quiet countryside of Inaka, a young girl is dragging her suitcase along the worn, gravel road. Her eyes are downcast and the heavy weight of dejection presses unrelentingly upon her shoulders, slumping them forward._ A moment more. A moment more. _These are the thoughts that run in her head. Her memories and feelings are igniting into an uncontrollable inferno that rages on and on in her heart. She climbs hesitantly into the car. The warm tears are already spilling over, and the tight squeezing in her heart chokes her words. Everything she has experienced is becoming part of a distant past which is slowly fading into the horizon of the place that used to be home. She realizes that her memories of this place were all interrelated in an intricate, delicate cobweb lining her inner sub consciousness. But, as she waves farewell, she feels a little helpless, as if this tiny rip in the cobweb is already causing a huge rift in her life. She thinks to herself, _time, relationships, acquaintances; they are all ephemeral. In our minds, they last an eternity, but reality compresses that, squeezes it into the painstaking last minutes of 'goodbye' and 'farewell'. And it is only then that we tumble off our shooting stars of joy and nonchalance, into the yawning pit of darkness that is always lurking in the shadows of our dreams and expectations. This is 'reality'. _

By the time the car reaches Ikebukuro, she is already asleep, lost in dreams of a faraway place. The driver steps out and gently wakes her. Eyelids fluttering open, she wakes and tentatively steps outside. The ground is paved and has been walked on billions of times. In Inaka, the footsteps in the gravel were few but told a story of a person's traversal. Here, it would take hundreds of kilograms to make any impression on the ground, let alone a whole series of them.

The buildings shoot out of the ground like weeds; they are everywhere, all different sizes and will never stop germinating. The skyline is dotted with the bright lights they illuminate. The girl notices many different groups of people, some sporting blue wristbands, others sporting yellow scarves. They are bunched up and prowl along the streets with fierce eyes. She hurries to her room in a grey, tired looking apartment. As she is unpacking, she hears a crash, then the agonizing screech of metal against metal. Curious, she stares out her window, to see the shocking, yet somehow amazing sight of a blond- haired man gripping the sign post he has apparently ripped from the ground. He ferociously swinging at what looks like a young man. Even more shockingly, the young man is dodging the powerful strikes with ease, occasionally defending himself with a pocketknife. Peering closer she sees that he has reddish eyes that…

Her heart stops.

Hands shaking, she recognizes the addition of another sound to the cacophony outside.

The eerie sound of her door creaking on its hinges.

Fear claws at her insides, and sends jolts of terror rushing through her body. She turns around ever so slowly.

The door is wide open, and the insides of her suitcase strewn all over the ground.


End file.
